Osteoporosis and its Management

Understanding a specific medical condition entails understanding the specific signs and symptoms as well as the pathogenesis of the diseases that drives the sufferer to a healthcare facility. The presenting signs and symptoms of a patient are utilized by the health care providers as a challenge to gather clusters of information to perform diagnostic tests, form a specific diagnosis, and conduct a management plan. Otherwise, ignoring the signs and symptoms often results to advance form of diseases that could have been prevented if addressed properly during the early stage. I have chosen the topic, osteoporosis, for the reason that my mother was recently diagnosed with osteoporosis after a long time of ignoring the signs and symptoms of the so-called preventable disease. After disregarding the disease for a period of time, I learned to develop the advocacy of knowing further what osteoporosis is all about. Osteoporosis, a common skeletal disorder in the elderly, is defined as progressive loss of bone density in conjunction with increased loss of bone tissues, brittleness of bones, weakening of bone structure that makes the elderly prone to serious fractures (Schwartz et al, 1994. Cooper, 2003. Kozier et al., 2004. Shiel, 2009. Human Kinetics, 2009). Osteoporosis is characterized by abnormal porous bone with compressible sponge-like structure and low bone mass in addition to the deterioration of structures of the tissue leading to the bone fragility that increases its susceptibility to fractures (International Osteoporosis Foundation, 2002. Shiel, 2009. Human Kinetics, 2009). According to Shiel (2009), the risk of acquiring fractured bone especially in the hip, spine, and wrist is increased with osteoporosis. International Osteoporosis Foundation (2002) added that osteoporosis remains to be under diagnosed and under treated despite its increasing global awareness. Osteoporosis is referred to as decreased mass of a normally mineralized bone (Rosai, 1989).